need opinions asap - snowboarding

[Greenhorn]

So I have the oppurtunity to go to a resort for a very minimal price in steamboat springs colorado next week. Never skiied / snow boarded before - got one guy saying there will not be enough snow and not a good time/place to learn, guy with the resort booked is saying the opposite of course.

Any of you Colorado guys got any predictions? Does man made snow really suck?

THANKS!

[CurSedVoyce]

Man made never as nice as powder grass hopper.... ;)
If there is snow, go for it. Should be snow amounts to be had on line or by phone. Bet the Colorado guys know. Maybe I will call my sister if nobody knows for sure. OBTW its raining here in CA so snow may be on its way. Who knows ;)
If ya got snow... its time to learn IMO

[NickfromWI]

I think the person who told you NOT to go may already be an experienced snowboarder well versed in the intricacies of different snow types.

If you've never been, I don't think your big interest will be the texture of the snow. For you, i think it will be all about the experience- the place, the beauty, the cold, the speed, etc.

I say be skeptical of the sales guy, but go anyways.

love
nick, who is getting ready to wax the old snowboard!

[Stumper]

Current snow levels are pretty pitiful in much of the state........but it will likely snow in the high country Friday and Steamboat got some real stuff earlier that probably stuck. Personaaly I am opposed to jumping off high places with or without a plank strapped to my feet but I think Nick gave you good advice.

[Greenhorn]

Thanks guys, keep me posted Colorado folks!

[squisher]

Go for it, eventhough snowboarding is for girls cause everyone knows real men telemark. Still any day on the hill is gonna kick ass over a day of work or sitting around the homestead.

[wiley_p]

Squish, it don't count if youz wearing plastic boots ya know.:)

[squisher]

Lol, I wore out a set of leathers before I got my T1's.:evil:

[sotc]

im a 2 planker wanker:D at least i was before i bought a snowmobile years ago

[squisher]

Snowmobiles are great, for accessing virgin powder.:D I sold my last mechanical snowshoe though.:(

[wiley_p]

Lol, I wore out a set of leathers before I got my T1's.:evil:

:DI was digging thru the rigging trailer and found 1 of my old Supercomp boots, have no clue how it got there and where the hell the right boot is.

[sotc]

ive only got the 1975 deere left, one of these years. might try and go skiing this year again, i bet its been 5-7 years!

[Mr. Sir]

Go for it! 8) Sounds like a wonderful opportunity. Even if you don't go snowboarding, it's an amazing place to visit. I learned to ski in the northeast US, actually not skiing, more like sliding on ice. :D When I went to Colorado, I had to learn all over again, it's just not the same.

[rbtree]

report says only a meager 10" base....but snow is forecasted
http://www.steamboat.com/mountain/
Area opened today for the season...

but only 2 lifts and a coupla trails open.
http://steamboat.com/trailsAndLifts.html


I've never been to da "Boat....nice hill, champayne powder...mellow, not much steep stuff...easy for a beginner.

[Greenhorn]

probably go, just equally as much to get away, that way I wont be pissed!

[rbtree]

http://www.steamboat.com/NOAA.aspx

[squisher]

Silver Star is promising to open within a week. Not much for snow here yet this year though. 10min from my hottub to the hill :).

http://www.skisilverstar.com/

[Altissimus]

One Add ...I was a snowmaker for 10 years , before going to patrol ... Do NOT be so quick to down man made snow .... todays technology is pretty amazing as well as the product .... the "dark" days of snowmaking are long gone....

[squisher]

Nothing but champagne powder here. Dry interior mountain dumps, mother natures finest.:D

[Altissimus]

Hmmmm......

[CurSedVoyce]

My favorite was Utah Alta... Best powder I have ever laid my planks on :D

[rbtree]

Die to ski, ski to die.....


more later...movie time...

meanwhile,


point 'em!!!!!

[squisher]

I was just razzing about the snow. Ride what ya got, a bad day of skiing still beats...........wait there are no bad days skiing.:D

I'm psyched this year, finally some time and opportunity to put in a good number of days this year, family and responsibilities really stole a few seasons away from me. Well worth it though, I'm hoping to get my kiddo up on skis this year, four's not to young is it? I've already got a late season trip planned to Banff and surrounding areas.

[CurSedVoyce]

Yup.. No such thing.. I remember skiing So Cal and it was all iced up. Granted I hurt that night and a few days, even though my edges were SHARP! But man I was high for days on that much fun :) NO REGRETS. I have even had 2nd degree burns from skiing were I probably should not have been with not enough on. But no regrets. Sloosh is always awesome!

[Altissimus]

It may be time to start a Ski/Snowboard thread !

[Newfie]

Well, what's this one about?:?;)

[Altissimus]

I' have actually been snowmobiling more than anything this year , I actually had my first run yesterday at sweep (on skis)

[rbtree]

I'm jealous....I see your hill has 122 acres open already...we got zilch....

Nov 6, 2004....I skied opening day at Mt Baker. There was 92 inches of unconsolidated snow. Most incredible opening day ever....though I have had my share of epic ones.....An avy buried a skier just past the boundary, and two future friends dug the shaken but alive fella out, as his partner was freaked. Later that year, I shot these young freeride competitors at Whistler: http://s25.photobucket.com/albums/c78/rbtree/Whistler%20Jan%2029-30%202005/ That was the best early opening in Wa in 30 years. In fact, Crystal raced everyrone and opened first. I skied their second day, I think it was, and had some incredible runs in knee deep pow...on wild terrain that often isn't skiable till mid December. Even hiked Silver King..which has nothing 35-60 degree lines off its north Face, and longer 30-50 degrees 1600 foot bowls and chutes on the south east side. The west side is out of bounds, and descends 3700 vertical feet into Mt Rainier Park, which then requires a 4 mile skate out the closed road...and a hitchhike back to the area.

Another personal epic was the opening day premiere of the first hi-speed quad in Washington....At Crystal Mt. 1988.....As usual, I was shooting and my models were the #4 and #10 rated snowboard women on the world circuit....18 inches of fresh light pow, and sunshine. They were the best single plankers to shred Crystal up to that time, and they were gals! What fun!

And then there was......


OK, you guys started it, look out!

[rbtree]

Me, chokin on it.....
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/181/429957989_029b0d7b07_b.jpg

actually, that was some of the mankiest snow I've skied in a while. Steve Ogle,a BC based pro, shot me at Mt Baker.....

[Altissimus]

That pic IS worht one thousand words !

[MasterBlaster]

Well, what's this one about?:?;)


:lol:

[rbtree]

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c78/rbtree/WayneGAvyBasin2w.jpg?t=1227796922

My number one guy Wayne "Groovy" Grevey on a short 50 degree face. That's Silver King's north face in the background, that I referred to earlier. Crystal's big mountain "extreme" comp finals are held there every year. A 15-25 minute hike from the top of the Silver Queen lift. The hike accesses hundreds of acres of awesome patrolled "backcountry" now being called "slackcountry".

[rbtree]

Jim Thompson, an elite level skier also in his 5th decade, ripping Elevator in the Alpental near backcountry. Yes, it is as steep as it looks.....
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c78/rbtree/Alpental/b61cec35.jpg?t=1227797802

and his son JD, who has been known to throw 100 foot backflips in big mt comp's.....
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c78/rbtree/Alpental/JD2w.jpg?t=1227798231

Beauty, eh?
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c78/rbtree/Alpental/Alpental2-2436w.jpg?t=1227798430
This nice line is a steep 20 minute hike above Edelweiss Bowl...and a mighty fun ride down...just can't miss a turn...there'd be some serious air time skier's right........


...ya think....?
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c78/rbtree/Alpental/Alpental2-2402w.jpg?t=1227798672

[Mr. Sir]

WOW!! That's incredible!! :O The pics are frikkin amazing, I know it's 10,000 times better in person. I would love to visit there again someday. 8)

[Skwerl]

Rog, you clazy! :\:

[rbtree]

Rog, you clazy! :\:

Yup...

"Leave no turn unstoned'

[squisher]

Awesome!!8)

[rbtree]

You'd love my shots from Red, Whitewater, Fernie and the Banff areas...but those trips were years ago, and I've never digitized the slides.....

Took a coupla trips to Nakusp as well back in 83 and 84.....had to fly a bird...no fun at all. We (9 local crazies one year, and 10) the next) were lucky enough to ski and name 17 first descents..back when Kootenay Heli-Ski was new to Nakusp....now they're part of the huge CMH operation. Many of those were in an awesome drainage named Fallopian Creek. You can imagine the names.....

[CurSedVoyce]

I bet you were very creative !:lol::lol::/:

I have never got that advanced skiing, but I sure enjoy the hell out of it :)

[Altissimus]

RB ... those pics are beauts , question .... you guys on AT gear ...

[rbtree]

I have a setup...many of us that ski Alpental regularly are on it..but to access the "bc" at Alpental and Crystal requires short lateral or uphill hikes, so most just push or shoulder their gear.
There's also plenty of true bc that gets toured to often.

[squisher]

RB west from Nakusp are my home stomping grounds. Blanket glacier and Tsius I was snowmobiling to and skinning my way up into some awesome territory long before Blanket became a CMH destination and Tsius had a catskiing operation built on it. Shoulda seen the catski owners face when I parked my snowmobile right at his lodge and toured off up 'his' cattracks. The catski outfit was actually pretty cool once I got to know them a bit and explained I had been skiing here for a decade already before they arrived.:lol:

Whitewater used to be a two to three trip a season hill for me. Love that hill, talk about awesome backcountry access in the valley or up and out from the top of the lifts. Not to mention that you could ski almost to town. Mostly though we campered right in the parking lot. Red I've been to atleast half a dozen times, Fernie too. Apex and Big White of course are close for me.

A good buddy of mine has taken teli to the next level over in Pemberton. Last winter he got a free ride at Wigleys from a ski rep just to give feedback on the skis, not to mention a bunch of free planks too. Which reminds me I've got to hit him up for a pair like he mentioned this spring, my shat is outdated now. He told me this last spring when I was over there that he doesn't bother with the dual mountain pass anymore, strictly off piste.


I AM PSYCHED! For snow this year.:D

[rbtree]

Cool...! There's been a few articles in Powder and other mag's about snomo/cat ski conflicts....including some with amicable relations as your experiences worked out to be.

Wish I wasn't a flatlander, getting old, or with a bum knee (or two) and that I had more time to spare. I've never done nearly as much bc as I've liked to.

WW has to have the most amazing close in touring, eh?! The view of Ymir before we even got there was insane.....and, of course, we skied its face a coupla days later. Result from that run-two or three photos made the 1997 calendar that a company published of all my shots.....

[rbtree]

By the way, I have a license to say "Eh", eh?! When I was 15, we immigrated to Vancouver Is from Arkansas.....though I did return to the states after hs grad. As this was 1965, I heard Nancy Greene's name often. She won the World Cup a couple times, and was just a couple years older than me.
35 years later, we met at a media gathering in LL, and I beat her in a media race, by a couple feet. I've skiied with here a coupla times at Sun Peaks. The lady's enthusiasm is boundless and intoxicating; a great ambassador for the area, and Canada skiing.

[Altissimus]

The AT boots I purchased two years ago was probably the BEST equipment investment I've made ....

[Greenhorn]

I got alot of new aches and paines but it was well worth it.

Learned it the first three days on hard pack and got a decent amount of powder on the forth to play in.

Definitely a cool experience and I didnt break the bank or any bones.

I want to move to the mountains everytime I go up there!

[The Branch Doctor]

I got alot of new aches and paines but it was well worth it.

Learned it the first three days on hard pack and got a decent amount of powder on the forth to play in.

Definitely a cool experience and I didnt break the bank or any bones.

I want to move to the mountains everytime I go up there!

Then do it! You won't regret it.:D

Glad you had fun bro!

[vharrison]

Roger, your pictures are awesome!

[Canuck]

I haven't wanted to ski soooo bad in years. I'm going crazy but I hear they got enough snow at castle to make things white in spots. Headed to Calgary next week sometime to shop for AT boots. Something tasty to go with my freerides and then I'm going to take an avvy course to a) brush up on my knowledge and b) hopefully meet some potential partners. PLEASE PLEASE SNOW

[Canuck]

http://skicastle.ca/staffpics/20081203.jpg

Not too promising for december

[Canuck]

http://skicastle.ca/staffpics/20081114.jpg

Some of my favorite lines in here

[squisher]

Local hill here Silver Star, still isn't open. Depressing as all hell.

[Treeslayer]

I sled my driveway before I shovel both inches of snow off.:D

[sotc]

Local hill here Silver Star, still isn't open. Depressing as all hell.

same here mt ashland

[rbtree]

Forecast is looking a bit better....snow forecasted all week in the hills..some anyhow...but f/l going to 6000 feet by Th, aarrgh....then back down.....

It was s'posed to rain here some today, but barely sprinkled...that's the way it's been for 6 weeks....there was some October snow....and that big dump that hit Idaho and Montana...which also allowed Snowbird in Utah to open....Mammoth had that early dump...elsewhere it's pretty grim.....


I just checked the telemetry at various areas around the Cascades. Loooks like it has snowed 2-10 inches with snow levels lowered to 3000 feet......now, keep up, dang it!!

[Canuck]

34 cm overnight. Looking better.

http://skicastle.ca/staffpics/20081208.jpg

[squisher]

Damn! Now that's a snowfall. For you americano's that's almost 1'2" of snow.

[Canuck]

Caffè Americano, Café Américano or simply Americano (the name is also spelled with varying capitalization and use of diacritics: e.g. café Americano, cafe americano, etc.) is a style of coffee prepared by adding espresso to hot water, giving a similar strength but different flavor from regular drip coffee. The strength of an Americano varies with the number of shots of espresso added.

[squisher]

I wasn't talking about watery coffee, I was translating.:lol:

[Canuck]

Man I love that watery coffee. Get a quad grande long americano every morning at the local Starbucks.

[squisher]

Lol, actually I don't mind a americano. Usually I'm just plain jane coffee, sometimes I'll get 'em to dump a shot or two in just to lively it up. I like my coffee darrrrrrrk.

[Canuck]

I like my barrista...

[Canuck]

1234

[squisher]

Ahhh yes I think I remember you posting something about a good trade ya made on a coffee/espresso type machine. I'd love to have one, but for the price I just keep brewing strong coffee.

Who's the girls?

[Canuck]

The one in blue is my barrista, aka, my girlfriend

[squisher]

Cool! Good company helps to pass the time eh?;)

[Canuck]

It most definately does. Keep quiet about our canadian girls though. ;)

[squisher]

Not to worry, not to worry. Nothing to see here boys, frozen barren wasteland. Keep it moving.:D

[woodworkingboy]

The one in blue is my barrista, aka, my girlfriend

She has bedroom eyes, kind of dreamy like :D

[No_Bivy]

you canucks...ahahahahaha


G.R.I.T.S. = girls raised in the south....much mo betta:D

[CurSedVoyce]

Kimberly Conrad (Hugh Hefners last wifey) was from canuck land as I recall. So where a lot of other lil hotties that used to float around the mansion. Also I have fond memories a few gals up in Merritt BC. Small town hotties at that. HMMMMMM
Good thing I taken ;)

[woodworkingboy]

"I wish they all could be California girls".

[rbtree]

Damn! Now that's a snowfall. For you americano's that's almost 1'2" of snow.

your new math is lacking.....34cm=13.5"


yummmmy, canuck.....

[Skwerl]

Rog, 1'2" is equal to 14", or a half inch from your calculation. I think he just rounded off.

[rbtree]

Rog, 1'2" is equal to 14", or a half inch from your calculation. I think he just rounded off.

My bad, I missed the " ' " I though squeezy said 12"

My deepest day ever was a 63" dump in 24 hrs, and 93 in 48.....thats 160 cm...sounds even more impressive when stated in canuckian....needless to say, it wuz deep!!!


But the avy danger was extreme, so we could only ski the bottom 1000 feet of hill..it was dumping 3-5" per hour...got bored of the same run after 3-4 hours and went out to shovel out cars from the pk lot. Most were just humps....only car that could extricate himself was a Jeep Wrangler...

Skiing bottomless pow is better'n sex..for one thing, you can't just order it up.....

[sotc]

thanks for translating squishy:D nice company your keeping these days ben

[squisher]

Still very little snow here. I dunno I gotta seriously convince my wife to move north. Things are getting to warm down here.

[jamie]

I want some, Scotland tries but it's alwways a bit wet and normally a white out.

I'm after a freecarve board next, (i've always wanted one) i was eyeing up one by donex (http://www.donek.com/index.htm). Any oppinions anyone? the number of days i get are so limited it'd last years.

i'm also after a pair of skis, i've not skied in about 13 years

Jamie